Sele-lttminotys decorative material and process eos the manufacture



,May 12, 1925. 1,537,777

G. LIEDTKE SELF LUMINOUS DECORATIVE MATERIAL AND PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF SAME Filed March 5. 192;

IN VENTOR GER r/aupr: L/Ea r/rE z A TTORA'EY rates as.

hath"??? GERTRUDE LIEDTKE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND IVIESNE AS- SIGNMENTS, OF ONE-HALF TO JULIUS LIPPMANN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND ONE- HALF TU DAVID LIPPMANN, OF ATLANTIC CITY, NEW' JERSEY.

fiifidLIF-LUMINOUS DECORATIVE MATERIAL AND PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE J5 SAME;

Application filed March 3, 1822. Serial No. 540,672.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that Gnn'rnonn LIEDTKE, citi zen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county of New York and State of New York, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self-Luminous Decorative Materials and Processes for the Manufacture of Same, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to self-luminous decorative materials and processes for the manufacture of same.

Phosphorescent or luminescent substances in the form of pastes or paints commonly known as radium paints have been appliedto objects to make the latter visible in the dark. lhis invention has for one of its objects the provision by the employment of such radium paints of a new and useful article of manufacture consisting in a material which may be used for making decorative articles or furnishings such as lamp shades, draperies, etc. which shall be luminous in the dark and give a pleasing ornamental effect. under natural or artificial light. i

Another object of this invention is to provide a process employing a radium paint or a like substance for manufacturing decorative material which will produce pleasing designs formed on a self-luminous background or produce self-luminating designs on a, non-luminous background.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a plan view partly broken away showing a piece of material made according to and embodying this invention,

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal cross-sectional View of the material; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a lamp shade made from this material and illustrating one application of the inven tion.

The material and process for making same will now be described with the aid of the drawing. In making the material ll proceed preferably in the following manner: ll first take a piece of porous fabric such as cheesecloth indicated at in the drawing. and apply thereto several coats of varnish indicated at 11. The varnish used may be any of the various suitable grades commonly found on the market. lt prefer, however, to use an aerated varnish such for example as isknown in the trade as 'copal or Valspar varnish or a pale, coach varnish. On the varnish fabric thus produced, I then paint by hand or otherwise place adesired suitable decoration or ornament such as flowers and the like as indicated at 12. The design or ornament 12 thus painted on the front face of the material will show through on the back face thereof. To the portions 13 of the back face surrounding the ornament 12, I then apply a layer of either lead or zinc paint indicated at 14:, of such character as to make the material opaque at all portions except those on which appears the painted design or ornament. To the portions 15 on the front face of the material surrounding the design, I then apply zinc white paint as indicated at 16a 1 then ap ply over the layer of zinc paint a coating of a radium paint of the characteralready referred to. I have found that in order to effectively incorporate the radium paint on the material, a suitable base must be provided therefor, and a layer of zinc white has proved to be satisfactory for that purpose, but other bases consisting-of substances having similar properties may undoubtedly occur to one skilled in the art as providing a suitable base for the radium paint.

The material thus prepared is dried in any suitable manner and may then be employed for making decorative articles such as lamp shades, drapes, window shades and the like. Thus in Fig. 3. is shown a lamp shade made from this material. If desired, instead of completing the material as herein described and then stretching it in place over the lamp shade frame, the fabric 10 may first be stretched on the wire frame, and then the various coatings and the design applied directly to the stretched fabric. lln some instances this will of course obviously be the simpler method of operation and I contemplate not only the making of the material itself in long pieces which may be sold by length to be applied in making decorative objects, but also making the objects themselves directly in the manner just tit) mil

explained, as for example in connection with a lamp shade. 7

It will be clear from the foregoing description that the material resulting from the process herein provided will comprise an opaque background having a translucent design. Under ordinary or artificial light the design stands out against the zinc white background and combines therewith to give a harmonious ornamental effect. On the other hand, in the dark, the zinc white background becomes visible because'of the blue luminescent glow due to the radium paint layer, so that an object made from this material will afforda neat decorative effect in the light and will at the same time glow in the dark, and in addition to giving an artistic: effect to the particular part of the room where the object is located, also make that part of the room visible.

If desired, the ornament or design may be made luminescent in the dark and the background non-luminescent, thus provid ing a material from which a design be comes visible as upstanding from an invisible background in the dark. The method of accomplishing this will be at once obvious since all that. would be necessary would be to make the material surrounding the design translucent and the design opaque and luminescent by simply applying the opaque lead paint, the white zinc layer and the radium paint to .the portions of the material bearing the design and not to the portions of the material surrounding the design.

It will thus be seen that there is provided a material and process for making the same in which the several objects of this invention are achieved and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention and as various changes might be made in the e-mbodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. The herein described luminous decorative material comprising a translucent body and coating on said body, said coating having arranged thereon in harmonious decotranslucent non-luminous design surrounded by a self-luminous background.

3. The herein described luminous decorative material comprising a translucent body and a coating, said coating including design and background elements, one of said elements being translucent and non-luminous and the other self-luminous. 4. The herein described luminous decorative material comprising a translucent body and a coating, said coating including design and background elements, one of said elements being opaque and self-luminous and the other translucent.

.5. The herein described process for the manufacture of luminous decorative matcrials consisting of the treatment of a suitable body to render the latter translucent and impervious to air and moisture, the arrangement on thesaid body with colors of a deslred decorative effect and the subsequent treatment of said decorative arrangement with opaque pigment materials on the front and reverse sides thereof and the application on the front side of the body of a radium p int.

6. The herein described process for the manufacture of. luminous decorative -ma terials consisting of the successive treatment of a suitable material with a varnish, the painting thereon of the desired desi the application to the back of the materlal, excluding the design portion of an opaque layer of a lead paint, the application to the right side of the material excluding the design portions of a zinc white paint and the application on the latter of a radium paint.

7. A process of manufacture of a luminous decoratlve material comprising in forming a translucent body, painting a translucent decorative design on said body, and applying an opaque self-luminous layer over said body excluding the design portions.

8. A self-luminous decorative material of the character described comprising a sheet of translucent material having translucent ornamentations applied thereon and at least one opaque self-luminous coating formed on said sheet to surround said ornamentation.

' In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

GERTRUDE LIEDTKE. 

